Saturday, October 28, 2006

Things are in hectic mode at the GSB- 1st years are stressing about midterms, us second years fretting about interviews... I just had my first 4 this week, and after my last one, I'm now on my way to the netimpact conference in Chicago at Kellogg. Never been there and l consider this as the last major city in the US that would of interest me, so it should be a fun trip. Of course netimpact was a great experience last year when it was held at Stanford, so I'm looking forward to networking and learning.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

I completed my 8 day road trip unscathed last month. California is one beautiful state- taking the whole thing (almost) in one week makes you appreciate it in its entirety. My friend Matt then joined me in my first week of 2nd year b-school and it has been a fascinating hearing his fresh comments about the b-school experience as he attended class and social events. I easily managed to convince Matt that GSB really is an incredible place ( I have not just drunk the Stanford GSB Kool-Aid) and he is now motivated to apply. Speaking of which, I met a student who I advised about the b-school process and it was finally great to meet him in the first week. Welcome to the GSB, Puru. I am showing other prospective students around campus as they have contacted me through formal GSB channels- it feels strange, I feel like I’m part of the Stanford GSB legacy and now inducting the next wave of curious students! The day I leave campus will be a sad day indeed.My classes are simply fantastic this quarter. I am taking formation of new ventures, paths to power and corporate finance (ok corporate finance- is not that exciting). I am also taking an across the street class from the international relations department- The Transnational Workplace. The course gets really moving at the end of this month and involves working in a virtual team across several b-schools around the globe to complete a deliverable under the constraints/challenges of cultural and time zone differences. Should be fun and a little crazy.Then there is the question of recruiting… This is where I am currently feeling a big drain, I need to find the energy to survive the next month- unlike the great Marquis, I don’t think I will be able to provide regular posts of how its all going until its all done. I have my offer from Microsoft which I am happy with- lets see how much more I can push myself and then to be able to make the difficult decision whilst in Zanzibar over X-mas- I would not have been home in 1.5 years- Again a reminder of the sacrifices I have made to come this far to go to b-school- the least I can do is be home whilst I make the decision for my first post MBA job.